IFD:OutsideMobile

Werkmodul | Fachmodul
Instructor: Michael Markert
Credits: 6 ECTS, 4 SWS
Capacity: max. 12 students
Language: English
Date: Tuesdays, 15:15 to 18:30/20:30,
  Evasive schedule for special events: Wednesday morning or afternoon
Location: Somewhere outside (and Marienstr. 7b, Room 105)

First Meeting: Tue, April 14th, 15:15

IMPORTANT

I am expecting this course to be very popular - there will be more candidates than open places. Therefore I am expecting a serious involvement and regular participation from every accepted student. I believe that enrolling and not showing up or missing more than two classes is extremely unfair to your fellow students that did not get a place. So please avoid enrolling in this course if you are not 100% serious about it, or if you might not have enough time to show up regularly. Thank you!

Beschreibung

We're going mobile: Packt die Geräte ein, wir gehen raus!

Dieses Semester nehmen wir "Mobile Devices" wörtlich: wir durchschreiten den Raum (spatio -> spazieren), untersuchen wie mobile ubiquitäre Technik unser räumliches Verständnis und unser Verhalten verändert. Was ist virtueller und "echter" Raum, wo überlagern sich beide, welche neuen Räume entstehen dadurch? Welche klassischen Navigationssysteme im Raum (Markierungen, Zeichen, Wegweiser, Wegleitsysteme, Karten, Kompass, Sterne...) gibt es und wie verändern moderne Gerätschaften mit GPS, WiFi & Mobilfunk Triangulation oder Location Based Social Services unsere Wahrnehmung von Raum.

Welche Daten können mit Kamera, Mikrofon, Sensorik und GPS bzw. allgemein "Data Loggern" erfasst werden und welche Auswertungen, Visualisierung oder Sonifizierungsmöglichkeiten gibt es für diese Daten? Welche künstlerischen, erzählerischen oder angewandten Strategien gibt es zur Auseinandersetzung mit Raum, Navigation und Technik, welche Auswirkung hat Technik auf Empfindung von Distanzen?

Wir werden Daten aufzeichnen, existerende aktuelle Techniken (Outdoor-Activity Planner) nutzen, in Feldversuchen testen, wie man mit und ohne Technik durch den Raum navigiert und uns künstlerische Auseinandersetzungen mit Raumrezeption und zeitlicher Dimensionen ansehen.

Ergebnisse des Moduls können Analysen, (App-)Konzepte, künstlerische Installation oder tatsächliche Umsetzungen sein. Das Modul kann auch zur unterstützenden Evaluierung von ortsbezogenen Projekten genutzt werden.

Der Kurs kann zusammen mit meinem anderen Kurs Inside Mobile besucht werden, der sich (auf einem mittleren bis fortgeschrittenen Kenntnisstand) mit Software-Techniken zur Umsetzung von Apps auseinandersetzt.

WICHTIG: Ich erwarte mehr Nachfrage als freie Kursplätze, deshalb bitte ich aus Rücksicht und Fairness gegenüber abgelehnten Bewerbern inständig darum, sich nur für diesen Kurs zu bewerben, wenn die Bereitschaft und die Möglichkeit zur regelmäßigen Teilnahme gegeben ist. Danke!

English Description

We're going mobile: Grab your mobile, let's go outside!

We will cross through space in various ways (walking, rushing, hiding, searching, hiking, strolling, listening, getting lost, driving ...), we'll look at how ubiquitous location aware technology has changed our perception of space. What's virtual space and how does it interact with "real" space; are augmented information layers altering our perception of space? Is it a new kind of space, is space becoming a "hyper" space?

We'll look at classic navigation systems (maps, compass, signage (Wegweiser / Wanderzeichen), stars...) and how technology, equipped with GPS, WiFi, Cell triangulation and location based services, changes our spacial understanding and behavior. Does technology change our understanding of distance?

Data can be logged with cameras, microphones, sensors like GPS and magnetometers. We will log and collect data and will see what can be done with this data in an artistic or applied context.

The expected outcome is a deeper understanding how location based technology works in practice. The final assignment is pretty open, it could be (either, not all!):

• a prototype of an app (or an app of course!)
• a (wearable) accessory (prototype or working proof-of-concept)
• an app-dummy (video-concept),
• a detailed app concept
• or a scientific paper, researching a specific location based / mobile topic

It is recommended to also visit my other course: Inside Mobile will deal with software technologies on an intermediate to advanced level.

IMPORTANT: I am expecting this course to be very popular - there will be more candidates than open places. Therefore I am expecting a serious involvement and regular participation from every accepted student. I believe that enrolling and not showing up or missing more than two classes is extremely unfair to your fellow students that did not get a place. So please avoid enrolling in this course if you are not 100% serious about it - or fear that you won't have enough time to show up regularly. Thank you.

Field Trips

• Soundwalk from Janet Cardiff in Cospeda across the "Windknollen": http://www.jena1806.de
• Planning Outdoor activities with komoot and other outdoor navigation apps; most likely on the Saale Horizontale in Jena
• Dérive Apps (trying to get lost)
• Geo-Caching
• Location Based Social Games (e.g. Mr. X Mobile)
• Testing Audio-Guides (e.g. the worst audio guide app ever: Buchenwald)
• Virtual mobility (e.g. Second Life)
• Night Walk
• Navigation techniques
• Public Transport Apps
• B-Tour Festival Leipzig
• ... (to be announced) ...
• Student contributed suggestions

Prerequisite

• Active and regular participation, Freude am Spazieren
• Open End: Most of our trips will be excursions outside of Weimar. Every field trip is expected to take 2 to 4 hours, sometimes plus public transportation. If you do need to be somewhere every Tuesday evening: don't apply for this course!
  • (EN) Aside from some theoretical and technical meetings within the specified timeframe, the field trips may not always fit exactly in the stated hours. It is expected from all participants to be flexible on Tuesday afternoons when it comes to the length and duration of the course.
  • (DE) Neben einigen wenigen theoretisch-technischen Auseinandersetzungen mit dem Thema und den existierenden Möglichkeiten, die im angegebenen Zeitrahmen stattfinden, werden die Feldversuche im Außenraum vermutlich nicht immer in den 4 SWS Rahmen passen, so dass Dienstags und teilw. Mittwochs eine gewissen zeitliche Flexibilität von den Teilnehmern erwartet wird.

Registration Procedure

THIS COURSE IS FULL. PLEASE DO NOT WRITE, AND DON'T COME WITHOUT ACCEPTANCE NOTIFICATION. NO EXCEPTIONS. I KNOW, THAT'S UNFAIR, SORRY.

To register for the course, please send an eMail due to April 8th with the Topic "Registration for OutsideMobile" to Michael dot Markert (at) uni-weimar.de, incuding the following informations:

• First name, last name
• program and semester (Studienprogramm und Fachsemester)
• matriculation number (Matrikelnummer)
• Valid email address @uni-weimar.de (no other mailing addresses will be accepted)
• Your general availability Tuesdays and Wednesdays
• How serious/excited are you about this course: 0- not at all to 10- I can't sleep anymore because I'm so exited about this course
• One short sentence why you want to (have to) be in this course (german or english)

If there are more than 15 registrations, students will be accepted depending on:

• Order (first come, first serve)
• If you are in a Project of Interface-Design (see Prof. Jens Geelhaar's semester projects this semester)
• What you've written in "why I want to be in this course" and how serious you are about this course

If there are more than 25 registrations, there might be a kick-off event with an evaluation competition.

Leistungsnachweis

• Active and regular(!) participation
• Progress on the individual project you are working on
• Creating a piece of work / concept / app / scientific paper:
  • The expected minimum should be a concept of a location based mobile app with a description, storyboards and (if possible) a functional dummy
  • As an alternative to a concept, scientific papers that evaluate existing or new location based mobile apps are also welcome
• It would be desirable if we get enough material by beginning of July to set up a small exhibition for the Summary
• 2 minute presentation at the IFD:Showreel

Projects and Documentations

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Target Group

• In general open to all students, but esp. suited for
• Bachelor- and Master students of Media-Arts & Design
• Master students Media-Architecture

Syllabus

This is a *preliminary* syllabus, please check your inbox and this page before going to the rendezvous points, as we might have to cancel due to unforeseen weather conditions (not so much when there's a little rain, but there will be absolutely no field trips when there are thunderstorms in the vicinity).

1. Tue, 14.04. Intro, Overview, Semester Planning
2. Wed, 22.04., 9:00 h Janet Cardiff Soundwalk, Cospeda über Windknollen und Lutherkanzel, Jena
3. Tue, 28.04. to be announced
4. Tue, 05.05. No course, because Michael is presenting on a conference in UK
5. Tue, 12.05. to be announced
6. Tue, 19.05. to be announced
7. Tue, 26.05. to be announced
8. Tue, 02.06. to be announced
9. Tue, 09.06. to be announced
10. Tue, 16.06. to be announced
11. Tue, 23.06. to be announced
12. Tue, 30.06. to be announced
13. Tue, 07.07. Phonorama Leipzig and B-Tours Festival Leipzig

Planned Activities:

1. Buchenwald Audio Guide with Ettersberg, Glockenturm, Südhang, Weimar
2. Geo-Caching
3. Mr. X Mobile, Erfurt
4. /WeimarpediaRallye, Weimar
5. Getting Lost in Apolda, incl. Serendipitor & Hidden Drops
6. Night-Cache
7. Outdoor navigation Kernberg-Horizontale (Saale-Horizontale, Jena)
8. Wöllnitz - Lobdeburg, Jena
9. Weimar - Kromsdorf - Tiefurt
10. Location Technologies (Theory for a rainy day…)

Literature / Media

Books:

• Guy Debord, Theory of the Dérive, 1958, http://library.nothingness.org/articles/SI/en/display/314
• Stephan Günzel & Jörg Dünne (Hrg.): Raumtheorie - Grundlagentexte aus Philosophie und Kulturwissenschaften, ISBN 978-3-518-29400-0
• Internationale Situationniste, 12 Journals, 1958-1969,
  • Situationistische Internationale: Der Beginn einer Epoche. Texte der Situationisten, ISBN 3-89401-243-9
• Martin Scharfe, Wegzeiger: Zur Kulturgeschichte des Verirrens und Wegfindens, Jonas Verlag, ISBN 3-89445-230-7
• Johann Gottfried Seume: Spaziergang von Leipzig nach Syrakus im Jahre 1802

Audio:

• Deutschlandfunk Feature: Auf Stummes Fersen: Von der Bewegung des Denkens im Gehen